


Étoile Tombée

by TheLadyAnna



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Classical Ballet, DCU, La Sylphide, The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ballet, Biracial Character, Drama, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Romance, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-11 03:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8951545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyAnna/pseuds/TheLadyAnna
Summary: When Marie Sheperd, a ballet dancer for Central City Ballet, gets the chance to perform a main part for the first time, she's bursting with happiness. But when the particle accelerator explodes, her life may change forever.





	1. Prélude

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! First, I wanted to thank you - yes, you! - for reading (or at least trying) my first fanfiction! Also wanted to clarify that The Flash belongs to Warner/DC/CW, so basically everything that's canon doesn't belong to me. However, Marie and some other characters come straight from my imagination, so they do belong to me.  
> I'm brazilian and that's my first time writing in English, so if you spot any mistakes, let me know so I can fix it! I don't speak French, I'm not a DC specialist or a ballet expert, so I'm sorry if I mess up a little. (Feel confortable to correct me if you wish!)  
> Hope you enjoy the story, Anna.

**Before**

 

_Prélude_

 

One, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight.

Again.

And again.

One more time.

Marie takes a deep breath as she trains one last time before her audition to Central City Ballet. Fresh out of ballet school, this is her fifth audition for a company, and she is starting to feel hopeless. All of her former classmates had been hired already, except her.

She comes in and suddenly everything's in automatic mode. Her focus is on dancing and dancing alone. Marie follows the instructions closely and imagines she's at a class, but that doesn't help. Pressure's always there.

She dances the variation next. Marie keeps the bright – and slightly fake – smile on her face as she twirls around the room. Pirouettes are her forte and she knows, that's why she choose to dance a variation with many of them. It was her mother idea, actually. Karen Shepard wasn't a dancer, but after years following her daughter to classes and spectacles, she learned a few things.

And then, in the blink of an eye, it's over. It was fast, too fast for Marie's liking. Now all she can do is wait.

 

* * *

 

Marie was never good in making friends. She couldn't start a conversation and felt strange looking at someone's eyes. But instead of realizing that she was shy, everybody seemed to jump to the conclusion that she was arrogant. So Marie became a loner, but she didn't mind. She had her mother and ballet, and that was enough.

So when a girl approached her after the end of the auditions, Marie was very surprised.

Her name was Paige and she had auditioned too. She came to congratulate Marie for her performance and ask if she was up for a coffee. Marie normally would say no, but she missed having someone to talk to, so she followed Paige to the coffee shop in the company building.

She was nice, Marie figured. Two years older than her, she used to dance for a company in Gotham, but moved because she was afraid of the violence in the city. Marie found herself telling Paige a few things about her too, like how she started dancing and her years in ballet school. She had fun.

The two exchanged phone numbers and departed, Paige to her friend's apartment and Marie to her hotel. This had been a good day, she concluded.

 

* * *

 

The results were up. Marie can't gather courage to look at it, so Paige does it for her.

A deep breath later, Paige says they're in. Marie is now a member of the Central City Ballet.

And that's where it all began.

 


	2. Rien Que Poussière

**Chapitre Un**

_Rien Que Poussière_

 

_A few years later_

 

Marie is sitting on the floor of the backstage, looking at the main stage through the wings. Paige is beside her, fixing the hidden knot of her pointe shoes. They're both watching as Damien Hathaway, 20, performs Prince Siegfried's variation on their final stage rehearsal. He joined the company in the beginning of the season and was already playing a main character. This makes Marie feels sad, even a bit envious – specially because Swan Lake's her favorite ballet – but it doesn't matter. Even if she never gets the chance to play her dream parts, she's fine as long as she can dance. That's what moves her every day out of bed.

Penelope Álvarez, the company's youngest Principal Dancer, goes on stage to practice the coda. She performs the 32 fouettés with a certain difficulty, but everybody expects that. They know she is much more of a jumper. But she holds her own, like Marie knew she would, and makes it look easy as breathing. Natural as blinking your eyes. And that's what makes her the great dancer she is.

"I heard something interesting today," Paige says. Marie turns to look at her, a questioning look on her face. She goes on: "We're dancing a new ballet next season."

Marie is instantly excited. "A new creation? For our company?"

"Well, not exactly," Paige tilts her head.

Most of Marie's excitement is gone now, replaced with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not a brand new ballet, just something the company's never performed. Pierre Lacotte's La Sylphide."

And now Marie's excited again.

"I never imagined I would get to dance this one day! Imagine it, Paige, where going to be sylphs! Doesn't it sounds fun?"

"If it's anything like the willis from Giselle I'm going to die in boredom" she sighs dramatically. Marie laughs.

"I'm sure it'll be great!"

"Ugh, your positivity is annoying sometimes."

This only makes Marie smile more.

"Why, thank you, dear."

 

* * *

 

 

One more season is over. The promotions are up. Penelope Álvarez is leaving for a year to perform as a Guest Principal in some European company. Damien Hathaway is promoted to Soloist. Paige Hemmings is also promoted to Soloist (something Marie expected since Paige got to dance Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty). And Marie? Well, she is still part of the corps de ballet.

She hugs her best – and only – friend, and promises that they'll celebrate later.

Paige goes call her boyfriend and Marie her mother. She answers in the second ring.

"How was it?" she asks through the phone.

"It wasn't this time, mom. At least not for me, but Paige was promoted!" Marie tries her best to sound excited for her friend, but she knows her mother will see right through her.

"Congratulate her for me, dear. Are you coming home?" the change of subject is quick and blunt.

"Yes. I'll see you soon!"

"I love you, daughter," her mother says, as always.

"I love you too, mom."

Marie hangs up.

 

* * *

 

 

Karen Sheperd, Marie's mother, doesn't live with her. She still lives in Rhode Island, were Marie lived most of her life – until she was accepted by a ballet school and left. It was hard for both of them, but the Sheperd girls are tough – at least that's what her mother told her.

Right now, Karen's visiting for a few weeks, to watch Marie dancing in Swan Lake, the last ballet of the season. But now the season's over, and soon Karen will return home.

That's why Marie puts her sadness aside and enjoys her last couple of days with her mother. They talk, laugh and watch movies together, like they always do. But when Karen goes to bed, Marie sunks into the bathroom floor and cries for one more season that she spends in the background. When she is done, she washes her face with cold water and prays that her eyes won't be swollen in the morning.

 

* * *

 

 

"You don't think it might have something to do with my skin tone?" Marie asks Paige one day, when they're having breakfast together.

"Well, Central City Ballet never had problems with dancers of other ethnicities," Paige points out. "Just look at Penelope: she's clearly latina, but nobody cares. It's her technique that matters."

Marie takes another sip of her coffee. In years following Paige to coffee shops, she has learned to appreciate the taste of it.

"Then I guess I need to work harder on my technique."

Paige sighs. "That's not what I meant. Marie, you're a beautiful dancer, but I guess it takes time to be recognized for it. I'm 25 and that's the first time I've received a promotion. Yours will come, I know."

Suddenly Marie feels ashamed of her attitude.

"I'm sorry, Paige. You're so happy for your promotion and I'm here talking about my identity crisis. Let's change the subject."

"Wait, wait, miss Sheperd," Paige raises her hands. "First, there's nothing to apologize for. You are my best friend and that's what best friends are for. Second, this has nothing to do with your skin. You a beautiful biracial girl and that's nothing to be ashamed of. And if you're right and they're not giving you the parts you deserve because of your skin tone, then they're huge racists idiots and we'll expose them for that. Alright?"

Marie swallows her tears. She doesn't know what she did to deserve a friend like Paige.

"Alright."

They finish eating and before following different paths, Marie hugs Paige and thanks her for being here, making sure to congratule her one more time. Paige deserves it, Marie knows.

 

* * *

 

 

Marie's mother is the daughter of a black man and a white woman. Marie's unknown father was white, according to her mom. And Marie is the mixture of both. For the lack of a better term, she has olive skin. She's too white to be black, and too black to be white.

Growing up, she always thought she looked like Beyoncé, her early teens icon. Then, when she figured out that her skin was lighter than Beyoncé's, she went trought her so called “skin tone crisis”. It was when her mother stepped in and told her about her father.

Karen never talks about him. That was the only occasion she did.

"Your father was white. He had this wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. Sometimes you look like him, Marie. Your nose, your face shape."

"Is he dead, mom?" thirteen-year-old Marie asked, noticing her mother's use of the past term.

Karen face instantly hardened. "It's like he is, dear. It's like he is," she smiled wistfully. "But don't think about him anymore, darling. He is nothing but dust to us."

And Marie did exactly like she was told.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, if you see this same fic on FF.net it's cause I'm publishing there too. Hope you liked this chapter!


	3. Petite Taglioni

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! How was your Christmas? I would have posted earlier, but I figured you would be busy with the holidays. Since this is probably the last chapter of the year, I wish you all an amazing 2017!  
> I'm planning a playlist for this story, I'll post on my Tumblr (I'm leaving the link after the chapter).
> 
> Thanks for reading my story, hope you enjoy this chapter!

**  
Chapitre Deux**

_Petite Taglioni_

Jewels, La Sylphide, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Manon. That's what the Central City Ballet will dance this season.

Marie danced Jewels during her first year at CCB, but maybe this time she would be in Rubies like she dreamed of instead of Emeralds. Don Quixote is always fun to dance. Le Corsaire was a favorite of hers and Marie was happy to be a part of it. Manon was unexpected, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. The Nutcracker, the Christmas classic, would be replaced by La Sylphide. Paige was right about this one.

It is a tragic love story, to say the least. A sylph, an air spirit, falls in love with a young man, James, who abandons everything - and everyone - to be with her. And then she dies, the end.

But of course it was much more than that. La Sylphide was probably the first ballet to ever be performed en pointe, by prima ballerina Marie Taglioni. It also introduced the famous ballet blanc, or white ballet, a full act danced by ballerinas in white costumes.

Marie loves white ballets. La Bayadère, Giselle, Swan Lake... she couldn't wait to dress a sylph costume and dance across the stage.

But that didn't happened as she expected...

* * *

 

"This season things will be slightly different," the company's Director, David Moore, announces. "With the retirement of miss Evans, miss Álvarez in Europe and the injury of miss Deville, we lost three of our best dancers. However, this is an opportunity to explore the other talents hidden within this company. Starting with Pierre Lacotte's La Sylphide, this might be your chance to shine. Today I will be taking notes on who I think is ready for this. No pressure, just do what you do everyday."

Sure, no pressure. Easier said than done, Marie thinks, breathing deeply. She shares a look with Paige, who looks abnormally nervous. Paige is the most confident person Marie knows, and she is nervous. This can't go down well.

In a way, it is like any other class, except for the fact that the company's director and his assistant are watching at distance, the assistant writing on his tablet as David Moore talks and talks and talks. Marie does her best to focus on the barre sequence, but she can't stop thinking about what Director Moore might be saying to his assistant.

Marie is trembling inside and out when they move to the center. Adagio goes okay, but allegro is nothing but regular. Jumping is not Marie's thing, but she does her best.

Then it's time for coda, and that's were she feels at home. Pretending there's no one watching, she lands a sequence of fouettés, smiling to her reflection on the mirror. When she finishes, even jumping feels better.

They're done. Now it's time for a break before the beginning of the rehearsals.

Before she can leave, David Moore calls her.

"Marie, can you wait a second, please?" she stops her tracks, sending a look to Paige, that seems excited.

"I'll see you soon," she mouths before exiting the room, grinning wickedly.

"Yes, Mr. Moore?" Marie turns to face the Director.

"You have beautiful arms. This could be very useful for a sylph," he states.

Marie's heart race. She can't remember if there's a soloist part for a sylph in act two, but she hopes it has.

"Thank you," she smiles. "Hopefully it will be."

"I'm sure it will," the Director nods. "Peter, can you check miss Sheperd schedule for today?" he asks his assistant, who immediately starts to tap on the tablet. "Marie, I would like to see you dancing the Sylph's variation this afternoon. Are you up to it?"

A thousand of thoughts race though her mind.

"The sylph, like, THE Sylph?" she asks, hesitant.

Director Moore smiles again, his black eyes twinkling. "Yes, THE Sylph."

"Whoa," Marie is stunned. "I-I don't know this variation, b-but I learn fast," she assures him.

"Of course. Mistress Kane will help you. I'll see you later, miss Sheperd."

He exits the room, Peter the assistant following closely.

Marie has no idea what just happened, but she's definitely happy.

* * *

 

Mistress Kane is a ruthless and brilliant teacher. She is truly amazing, and Marie feels lucky to have the chance to train with her alone. Then director Moore comes in, watches for a while, does some corrections and leaves without saying anything.

Marie disappointed him, she feels. She had her shot, and lost it.

* * *

 

Casting for La Sylphide is up. Paige will dance Effie during four nights, and be a part of the corps during the rest. But that's not what surprises her.

No, the great surprise is that Marie is set to dance the Sylph twice, with Damien Hathaway as her partner.

"I knew it!" Paige screams in her ear as they share a hug. "You're gonna be the Sylph!"

"And you're gonna be Effie!" Marie answers just as excited.

"I know!"

"I'm so proud of you, Paige. I'm sure they'll cast you as Medora or Gulnare in Le Corsaire next."

Paige holds Marie by her shoulders. "And you'll get to be an odalisque like you always wanted!"

They hug again as tears roll down their faces. They did it.

* * *

 

Marie crosses paths with David Moore later that day. She thanks him shyly.

"You earned it, Marie. You'll be a beautiful Sylph," he tells her.

"But it was you, sir, that gave me the opportunity to dance this part. Thank you very much!" her cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but she doesn't care.

"I guess this part belongs to Maries, doesn't it? First Taglioni, now you."

"I hope so!"

"Well, I have to go now," the director says in an apologising way. "I see you in the rehearsals, little Taglioni."

Marie waves at him as she watches him go. She can't wait to tell her mother.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in the playlist, take a look on my Tumblr: flameofserendipity dot tumblr dot com
> 
> Just don't forget to replace the "dots" for actual dots lol
> 
> See you soon, Anna Xx


	4. Créatures Éthérées

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! I hope you have a marvelous 2017!
> 
> Once more, I would like to remind you that The Flash is a property of CW/DC/Warner and I owe nothing but Marie and some other side characters ;)
> 
> Also wanted to thank everybody reading this story, you guys have no idea how much this means to me. Étoile Tombée was just a test for me, but now I feel so inspired to keep writing thanks to you. You're awesome!
> 
> (and if you want to leave a comment and make my day better, don't be shy! PM me too if you like!)
> 
> Enjoy this chapter! (the next will be coming soon and hopefully will be longer!)

**Chapitre Trois**

_Créatures Éthérées_

 

"Marie, you're an air spirit. A weightless, ethereal creature," Mistress Kane tells her during a rehearsal of the pas de trois from act one. "That's what differences the Sylph from Effie, the sharp contrast between elemental and human. Effie dances, but the Sylph flies."

Marie nods. "Of course," she says. But it's not what she feels.

Ballet dancers _are_ ethereal creatures. They perform the hardest steps with a smile on their faces and make it look easy. They are trained for it, to be lightweight. And even though Marie was trained like any of them, she just couldn't feel lightweight.

It started when she was twelve. It was the year she decided that she would do the possible and the impossible to be a professional dancer. So her first decision was that she needed to lose weight.

Marie was a chubby child, what definitely made her stand out from her fellow ballet students. And then came puberty. Thankfully, she had small breasts, but everything else seemed... wrong.

Her thighs were too big, her arms didn't feel slender and beautiful, and her backside - generously inherited from her mother's side - was definitely a problem. So she started dieting. Never something too crazy, just enough to be in the shape she wanted.

And then she found out that you can't fight nature. At fifteen, Marie was at the edge of an eating disorder. Her mother had noticed, but Marie wouldn't listen to her: she did not know how much dancing was important to her. So her teacher stepped in.

"Marie, you can't do this anymore," Mrs. Robertson told her. "This is your body and you don't need to change it to the a good dancer."

"But... aren't my arms ungracious?" she asked, incapable of looking in her teachers eyes.

"Your arms are your best trait, don't worry about them. If you're really want this life, you will get in shape; professionals train eight hours per day. But you need to stop fighting your own nature. Accept yourself, embrace your uniqueness and then you'll conquer the world."

Marie never forgot those words. Six months later, she auditioned for a professional ballet school and was accepted. And yes, she couldn't jump as high as some of her classmates or had Sylvie Guillem-ish extensions, but she did made her teacher cry after her performance of the Dying Swan. And even if she wasn't accepted into the school's company later, this led her to Central City Ballet and she loved it here.

So Marie takes a deep breath and restarts the choreography, Mrs. Robertson's words in mind.

* * *

"I'm so happy you're here!" Marie says in her mother's arms.

"I couldn't miss your debut in La Sylphide. Did you liked the surprise?" Karen Sheperd's laugh sounds like music to Marie's ears.

"I loved it, mom!" she takes her mother's suitcase and leads her into the apartment. "But you should have told me, I would catch you on the airport"

Karen throws herself on the couch. "Nah, I don't mind," she waves her hand at Marie, her silky black hair shining against the fabric. Karen was seventeen when Marie was born, so she's still pretty young. Most people use to think they're sisters instead of mother and daughter, what makes Karen dazzlingly happy. Her natural curly hair is straightened now, and her eyes are accentuated by thick fake lashes. Karen's a make-up artist, what really comes in handy when you're a teenage ballerina with no idea of how applying eyeliner. Even nowadays, after years of practice, Marie knows she'll never match her mother's skills.

"How's Paige?" she asks, pulling out her boots.

"She's great. You should have seen her in Jewels, mom, she stole the night!" Marie answers from the kitchen. "Will you stay for Christmas?"

Karen enters the room and sits in a chair by the table.

"Let me see: my favorite holiday with my favorite daughter, yes or of course?"

Marie laughs as she serves juice for her mom. "I'm your only daughter."

She winks playfully. "That's merely a detail, darling."


	5. Attachée Dans Des Cordes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! As promised, the next chapter! Just a quick reminder that I don't own The Flash, but you already know this!
> 
> Also, this is the last chapter before the explosion, yay! I'm so excited because the real story begins here!
> 
> Enjoy!

**Chapitre Quatre**

_Attachée Dans Des Cordes_

When Marie was eight, her grandparents decided to take her to an amusement park. Marie was used to be around them, since her mother lived with her parents until a year before. This was the first time she seen her grandparents since they moved.

Marie's grandmother decided to take her to the Ferris wheel. She was excited to see the world from above, until she looked down. To Marie, it was like staring at the abyss. She was so terrified that her grandparents brought her back home immediately, but she couldn't stop crying. From that day on, Marie avoided heights with all her strength.

But sometimes you can't run the other way.

This is one of this situations.

Marie's tied in strings, hanging from the theatre's roof. This is the last costume rehearsal before her debut as the Sylph, but she's been dancing with the corps for almost a week now. Director Moore wanted a grand entrance for the second act, so why not make the air spirit actually fly?

Marie's blood runs cold in her veins. She's terrified, but does her best to keep calm and don't let it show. If she freaks out now, she might never have a chance like this again.

"Is everything okay up there, little Taglioni?" the Director asks her.

Marie wants to nod, but she doesn't dare to move. "Better impossible!" she answers with an uptight smile.

"Alright, let's begin!" he shouts. The corps de ballet, property dressed in their sylph costumes, gets ready to come in. Marie crosses the stage hanging from the roof, her face solemn, while Damien, who's dancing James, runs after her, completely infatuated with the Sylph. And so they go on.

 

* * *

 

During the break, Paige and Marie are drinking water in the backstage and commenting the casting for Don Quixote and Le Corsaire. Paige will play Kitri, the explosive main character. In Marie's opinion, there isn't a dancer in the entire company that fits this part more than Paige. As for her, she had the difficult task of dancing the Queen of the Dryads for a couple of nights.

Paige was also casted to play Gulnare in Le Corsaire for a few nights, alternating with the first odalisque. Marie was also casted as an odalisque, the third, alternating with the pas d'esclaves that she will dance with Damien.

"What Penelope will think when she returns to find out that you stole her partner?" Paige teases, fixing the flower crown on her head.

"Oh, he's hardly my partner," Marie dismisses. "I mean, it's not an official thing."

"If you say so," her friend sends her a suggestive look. "I think he likes you."

"Paige, I'm older than him," Marie points out.

"So? Manon was older than Des Grieux."

"And look what happened to her!" she throws her hands in the air. "I don't want to dehydrate in a desert."

The two just look at each other for some seconds before busting in laughter.

"Yeah, maybe it's not a good idea," Paige says as she wipes away a tear of mirth.

"So, is Raf coming to watch you dance?" Marie asks.

Raf is Paige's long term boyfriend, and a journalist. He travels a lot, and Paige's also a workaholic, so they barely see each other, and yet they make this work somehow. For Marie, they're the couple that gives her hope that true love can really happen.

"He couldn't find tickets. Everybody's obsessing over this Particle Accelerator thing," Paige snorts.

"Oh, I forgot about that," but she didn't. Her mother is pretty excited as well. She had done her research on Star Labs and, most importantly, Doctor Harrison Wells, whom she gently calls "Hot Doc". Marie was pretty sure that her mom would go to Star Labs for the activation if she didn't had something else to do in that date.

That is, of course, watch Marie dancing the Sylph.

"Marie," a male voice calls her. She turns around: it's Damien.

"Speak of the devil," Paige smiles roguishly. "I'll let you talk," she leaves, winking at Damien. The young man cheeks are red like a tomato now.

"Hey, Damien. What can I do for you?" Marie asks.

"You were talking about about me?"

Marie raises an eyebrow. "Y-yes. Paige was j-just saying how good you are. Dancing, I mean," she adds quickly.

Damien looks awkwardly embarrassed now. Actually, it's kinda cute.

"Oh, I should thank her later then," he scratches the back of his neck. "I just wanted to ask if you're okay."

Now Marie's surprised.

"Me? Well, I'm fine," she frowns. "I appreciate your concern but why do you ask that in first place?"

"You looked... uncomfortable. I mean, when you where up there," he points to the roof.

"Oh," Marie bites her lower lip. "I guess I'm not a good actress."

Damien laughs a bit. "Or maybe I'm good in reading people."

"Sure!" she smiles. "What gave me away?"

"You were tense. And you barely moved. I just assumed you're afraid of heights."

"You assumed correctly!" Marie tries to laugh, but it feels forced.

"You don't need to be afraid, you know?" Damien says after a moment of uncomfortable silence. He looks deadly serious now. "The company wouldn't expose you to any kind of danger, I'm sure."

"I'll remember that next time I'm up there," Marie feels her phone vibrating. She takes a look at the screen, it's her mom. "I gotta take this, is my mom," she says in an apologizing tone. Damien nods and starts to leave, but stops when Marie calls him again. "Thank you," she smiles. This time it's for real.

He smiles too. "Don't mention it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don't like to pressure you guys to comment, but I really want to hear what you have to say, so if you have time to leave a little hi, just to let me know you're there, please do :)


	6. Danse Comme Il Est La Dernière Fois

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! I know I should have posted this earlier but I'm having problems with my internet connection. But now it's here! I'm so excited because now the story really starts!
> 
> Enjoy! (and leave a comment if you do!)

**Chapitre Cinq**

_Danse Comme Il Est La Dernière Fois_

 

"Mom? Mom, what are you doing?"

Karen looks up from her phone.

"Oh, I... it's nothing," she shrugs, putting the phone away.

Today's the big day. Marie is getting ready in the the dressing room. It's the first time she has a room all to herself and she can't help but feel a little lonely. At least her mother's here with her.

"You're watching STAR Labs live stream," Marie guesses.

"Wrong. I was watching STAR Labs live stream," she rises from the chair and grabs a long eyeliner brush. "And now I will do your makeup!"

Marie can't help but laugh. Her mother looks like a fairy godmother holding her magic wand, in this case, a makeup brush.

"Just don't make it too dramatic, okay? I'm playing the Sylph, not Odile."

Karen gives her a pointed look. "Darling, the Sheperd girls are dramatic by nature."

* * *

 

"Marie, how are you?" Director Moore asks while Marie stretches behind the closed curtains.

"I'm nervous, but I'm fine," she answers with a true smile. She's so excited that she can barely remember that in some hours she'll be hanging from the ceiling.

"Good. I don't want to make you more nervous, but we'll be recording the performance tonight," noticing Marie's suprised/terrified expression, he adds quickly. "It's for the company's YouTube channel. It'll help to divulge our work and your dancing, of course."

"Yeah," she nods weakly. "Sure."

"Great," Moore claps excitedly. "I'll leave you to get ready."

He leaves without saying nothing more. Marie don't want to disappoint anyone, especially in camera. If she screwed up, that would be a video to prove it.

_Tonight you better dance like it's the last time, Marie._

* * *

 

The curtains open. Marie can't see very well without her contacts and that helps her getting calm. All the faces in the audience are just blurs to her.

Marie is gone. Only the Sylph remains. She floats around a sleeping James, curious and charmed at the same time. Then he awakes and she flees.

Paige is dancing Effie tonight. Now is her time to shine. But then, when James starts to forget the Sylph, she comes back. During the pas de trois, she remembers mistress Kane's words: "you are an ethereal creature". For the first time, she believes in it.

James needs to choose. He chooses the Sylph, leaving a heartbroken Effie behind. End of act one.

* * *

 

Marie's on the backstage, getting ready for act two. While they're tying her to the strings, she hears the conversation of two ballerinas behind her.

"Hey, look at this," one of them says, pointing to her phone. "Looks like the rain affected the Particle Accelerator."

The other comes closer, Marie listens as she fakes a surprised gasp. "It seems like it's a huge fail!"

The two share a laugh and Marie feels disgusted. People could get hurt, how can they laugh at that?! Part of her wants to turn around and lecture them, but if Marie doesn't have courage to do that in a normal day, how could she do that now?

Damien appears beside her. "Don't be nervous, okay? You're doing great," he says in a low voice before leaning in and kissing her cheek. For a moment she thought he would kiss her lips, but she's grateful he didn't. Marie doesn't think she could get on stage just a minute after getting her first real kiss.

He leaves to get in position. It's now. Marie's not afraid. She's flying.

The orchestra starts to play and the Sylph floats from the ceiling. James, completely besotted with the spirit, looks at her with adoring eyes. The Sylph starts to go down. Once she lands, James will untie the strings and the dance will really begin.

But that's not what happens.

In the middle of the way, the strings stops. Marie's stuck. She's too high for Damien to pull her down.

The lights flicker. Now she's getting scared.

The power goes off. She hears the voices of the audience, wondering what happened. Then something, like a wave of energy, makes the ground shake and goes through her like a lightning bolt.

Something snaps. For a moment, she's flying. Then she realizes she's falling.

It's so fast she doesn't have time to scream. Marie's hits the floor with a loud bang. The emergency lights are on now.

Everything feels fine.

...No, it doesn't.

The pain hits her hard. It's so strong that she knows she'll past out. Marie never felt like this before.

She hears Damien calling her, than Paige's voice, but she can't see anymore. Everything's black, and then she falls into oblivion.


	7. Interlude

**After**

_Interlude_

 

The new teacher was odd, to say the least.

Last year's teacher was Mrs. Adora. She was in her sixties, had a strong foreign accent and was always late. She also wanted all her students to be Svetlana Zakharova, what was rather difficult when you start ballet at the age of fourteen.

But this teacher was really different. Her corrections were soft spoken and she smiled a lot more than Mrs. Adora. And she was never late.

The other girls in class used to mock her, criticizing the teacher long stiletto nails or her strange dark green hair. If the teacher knew, she never let it show, or maybe she didn't care. Anyway, the teasing stopped last week, when a red-haired named Daphne asked if she could demonstrate fouettés. They clearly expected her to fail, but the teacher nailed it. At least now they respected her.

Morgan imagined why a talented woman like her choose to be a teacher instead of following a professional career. But Morgan was thankful she didn't, she really liked having classes with this new teacher. She was indeed strange, but Morgan knew one thing: there was something special about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the interlude, now we're ready to go! Oh, I forgot mentioning that I've created a new tumblr especially for Étoile Tombée! Just look for etoiletombee!


	8. Une Force Étrange Dans L'air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm sorry this took so long, but last week was just insane! I got into this musical theater intensive and things just ran out of control. We trained almost seven hours everyday, but it was totally worth it! I loved the experience so much that I auditioned for their regular course and was accepted! But don't worry: now I know how it works, I'll keep a better schedule to keep the story going.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter and please comment!

**Chapitre Six**

_Une Force Étrange Dans L'air_

Marie Sheperd loves cheesecake. Specially New York cheesecake.

For years, she told herself not to fall to the temptation of eating too much sugar, but now she wonders how she lived for so long without feeling the taste of the best things in the world.

"Marie? Marie! Are you listening?!" Paige snapped her fingers.

"I'm sorry," she apologized meekly. "But this cheesecake it's just hypnotizing!"

Paige rolled her eyes. "You weren't listening."

"I did heard something about a blur and... something red?" Marie tried to defend herself.

Her friend snorted, taking another sip of her cappuccino. They were at Paige's new favorite coffee shop at the Central City Shopping Mall, having a nice normal conversation about the weird events happening in the city. Well, at least Paige was talking about that.

"You don't want to know what's going on?"

"Paige, in my short and not so interesting life, I learned that ignorance can be a blessing." Marie said after swallowing the last bit of the cheesecake.

"Unbelievable," she said. "I can't believe that the same girl that believes in fairies and mermaids is not even curious to understand what's going on!"

Marie shook her head. "It's not that I'm not curious..."

"I knew it! Do you want to know!" Paige grabs her phone excitedly. "Raf sent me this morning. Do you see it?"

Marie leaned over the table to have a better look at the picture Paige was showing her. All she could spot was a red streak. "Uhn, yeah...?"

"Okay, I give up! You really don't believe in it!"

Marie shook her head, a small smile on her face. "I guess I only believe in what my eyes can see."

Paige raised a brow. "Have you seen fairies?"

"No," she points her straw to her friend. "But I can feel then!"

"Unbelievable."

"I'll consider that as a compliment."

They remained in silence for some moments before Marie gathered her courage and said: "I'm going to see him."

Paige's eyes narrowed. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"I have to. It's been long enough, Paige. I need to hear the story from his point of view."

Paige sighed, but didn't insist. She couldn't change Marie's opinion, at least not about this. Her phone started ringing; it was time to go back to the company.

"I gotta go," the blonde ballerina rose from her chair. "Call me later?"

"Sure. Good luck with the adagio!" Marie waved at the fading figure of her best friend. She couldn't help but feel slightly jealous: there was nothing she wanted more than join Paige and go back to the company, but she couldn't. Not now, not ever.

Figuring that envying her friend and weeping over the spilled milk would do no good to her, Marie payed for her food and followed her way to the sports equipment store she was looking for. Even if the focus were clearly on sports, they had some ballet stuff too and Marie was out of tights.

Using a coat to cover her green leotard underneath, Marie walked into the store. Even after the... uhn, accident, it was hard for her to get used to dressing normally. For years she spent most of her days in leotards, tights and pointe shoes, and was more comfortable this way than most dancers. However, she also got some freedom after leaving the company. Her first act of rebelliousness was to bleach her hair and dye it dark green. In the darkness, it looked like black, but under the lights of the studio were she worked now the green was more visible.

She also tried to use stiletto nails, but she could only handle a few accidental scratches before giving up on then. She considered a piercing or a tattoo, but it was just not her style, so it was better to just stick with the green hair.

After paying, Marie stuffed her new tights in her bag and decided it was time to go home and take a nap.

But of course that's not what happened.

She was on her way to the north elevator when she noticed the amount of people gathered around the area. Frowning, she watched as the cops tried to calm them, and then stopped her tracks as she spotted the corpse of a woman.

"What's happening?" Marie whispered to a woman watching the messy crowd.

"Some kind of poisonous gas. Poor woman," she answered in an equally low voice.

And then everything shifts.

For a moment, it was like time stopped. It was like waking up from a vivid dream: suddenly you're aware of everything happening around you, but way more powerful. She was hit by a wave of senses she never felt before: she could feel the jasmine perfume of the woman beside her just as well as she could feel the heavy breathing of a man on the other side of the room. She couldn't smell them, but she could sense their presence. Marie blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the dizziness. The woman beside her looked at her strangely, but didn't say anything. She probably just thought that Marie have never seen a dead person or something like that.

Recovering the steadiness of her body, Marie felt a rush of wind going through the crowd, but she didn't know where it came from. It was so fast that she thought she had imagined it, but she knew she didn't.

There was something wrong, and Marie knew it. She could feel a strange force in the air, something that didn't belong there.

Her legs started moving almost as if she was being pulled by an invisible strength. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she had to. And what she saw wasn't particularly pleasant.

There was a green mist floating in the air, and Marie was sure that was the poisonous gas that killed that woman on the elevator. But before she could do anything, the mist was gone, disappearing completely.

She still wasn't sure if what she spotted next was better or worse.

On the spot where the gas had been, there was a man dressed in a red suit that looked like the best costume Marie had ever seen. Oh, and he was also suffocating. Just another regular day, right?

She hadn't the chance to do something though, because faster then the blink of an eye, the man was gone, leaving only a red trail behind.

Just like the red streak Paige was obsessed with.

_It seems my words came back haunt me._


	9. L'éclair Rouge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my beautiful readers! I am really excited to share this chapter with you, you'll see why in a moment. I have some news for you guys, but I'll leave them in the end so you can enjoy the chapter first! Enjoy!

**Chapitre Sept**

_L'éclair Rouge_

Marie only knew that she wasn't hallucinating because she was taking her antidepressants. She didn't feel like going crazy anymore, but she was still scarred, even if scars can only do so much. What she witnessed on the mall was real and that probably only complicated things more.

And it wasn't just what she saw that disturbed her, it was what she felt. Marie was the type of girl that was always worried about being followed, robbed or worse, murdered, so she was always alert. Over the years she mastered the art of being aware of your surroundings, but she never felt like this before. It was amazing, but also overwhelming and Marie started doubting her sanity again.

She couldn't sleep that night. Being a night owl, she spent hours researching on the web, looking on something about the red streak. There were rumours everywhere and Marie was rather unsure if she should believe then. And there absolutely nothing that connected the stranger in red to a creepy green mist.

Disappointed with the results, she forced herself to sleep. Marie had texted both her mother and Paige saying she was extra tired and would sleep earlier, so they wouldn't worry over her lack of replies later.

Lying on her bed, her only wish was to don't have nightmares about the strange events of today.

But of course she had.

In the dream, she was onstage, the same stage that changed her life last December. Then the green mist appeared and Marie started suffocating. She tried to scream for help, but no one would hear her. Marie had never dreamed with her own death until that night. Of course, most of her nightmares involved falling from heights or being chased by zombies - she cringed every time the undead creatures were mentioned - but she never died in those dreams. Marie would just wake up very scared and then realise it had been just a dream. But this time she was stuck in it. The mist killed her and Marie fell into a void, incapable of doing anything.

When she finally woke up, her first reaction was to take a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the air filling her lungs. Her second reaction was to check the hours: she had definately slept in. Almost 3PM. Glumbling, she rose from her bed and started her everyday routine: brush teeth, shower, breakfast, antidepressants, calling her mother, messaging Paige...

"Mom, I'm alright, really," she told her mother through the phone. "I woke up during the night and started reading a book. When I fell asleep again, the sun was rising!"

" _But you're feeling fine?_ " Karen asked. " _Are you feeling any pain?_ "

"No, mom. I'm physically and psycologically fine."

Karen sighed, sounding much more tired than usual. Marie knew she could tell anything to her mom, but how would she explain something she couldn't understand? She figured it would be better to wait a little longer, until she could place her thoughts and find a way of not sounding like a mad woman.

" _I don't know why you're working, dear. I understand you don't want to stop dancing, but don't push yourself harder. Respect your limits, Marie_."

Marie closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Even if she loved her mother endlessly, hearing her saying those words hurt. Before the accident, she wouldn't need to remind of her this; Marie could feel her body's limits and had learned to accept them and focus on the bright side of things. But now, stating her limits was a constant reminder of all the things she couldn't do, the roles she would never perform, the opportunities she had lost.

"You don't need to worry, I'm being careful, mom, I promise."

" _I know you are, it's ju-_ " her mother was interrupted by a voice on the background. " _Dear, my next client's here. We'll talk later?_ "

"Sure, do what you gotta do. And mom, don't forget I love you," she smiled. Marie knew her mother was smiling too.

" _Never. I love you too! Bye!_ " Karen whispered the last word before hanging, leaving Marie alone with her thoughts again.

Thankfully, today's her day off - Marie doesn't know if she could focus on teaching after yesterday. So she decided to do something else, something she was procrastinating to do and definitely would take her mind off of green mists and streaks.

_It's time to go to Iron Heights._

* * *

 

Marie has never been on a prison before. To be honest, she didn't even know how to there, but after a quick search on Google, she was on her way.

Iron Heights wasn't exactly close to her apartment, on the contrary, it was rather far. Marie would have walked there, but she was afraid of pressuring her feet or knee, so she hailed a cab. It was later than she planned when the former dancer arrived: the sun had set by now. The whole process of visiting someone in prison was aalso surprisingly fast. The guards took her personal items - basically her phone and necklace - and then she was in.

There was no one else in the room besides a guard standing by the door. Marie greeted him good night and sat on a simple black chair in the opposite side of the room. A minute later, he arrived.

He looked tired, more tired than she had ever seen. His eyes, usually so bright, were dull. His hair had grown too. Even if life as a prisoner changed his appearance, he still looked handsome.

"Marie," he sounded surprised as he started talking through the phone. "I... didn't thought you would come here."

"It's good to see your face, Damien," she replied. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to visit you."

Damien seemed confused by her words. "How are you? I mean, did you healed fine?"

"Fine enough to survive, but not to keep dancing," she smiled wistfully.

Damien just looked at her through the glass with a riddled expression. He used to say he was good at reading people, so what was he reading about her?

"I am sorry, Marie," his voice sounded defeated. "I am so sorry for what happened to you. I swear I tried to catch you, but..."

"Damien, stop," she interrupted him. "Don't do this to yourself. I'm not here to blame you, how could I? You only tried to help."

"But..."

"It was dark, you couldn't see you were going."

He lowered his head, as if he couldn't stand looking at her eyes. Marie bit her lip, wondering if coming here was a good idea. She didn't wanted to upset Damien. Decided to leave before she could do more harm, Marie opened her mouth to say goodbye when Damien cut her:

"She was just twenty-two, Marie. Liz. She had a beautiful future ahead and I stole that from her."

Marie held her breath. "Damien..."

"It was an accident," he looked at her through the glass, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "We where training one of the lifts, I touched her neck and she... I didn't even used force."

Marie swallowed the lump on her throat. Months ago, when she was starting to get better, another dancer called Liz Garner was casted to replace her in Le Corsaire's pas d'esclaves. According to what she was told, Damien was rehearsing with her and somehow snapped her neck. No one could understand what happened that day.

"I changed, Marie."

She nodded sympathetically. "We've all changed."

"No, you don't understand," he whispered, a mad expression taking over his face. "Something within me has changed. I am strong, Marie, stronger than I've ever been, and I. Can't. Control it." Damien's hands started shaking. "I think I'm going crazy."

 _I know the feeling_ , Marie thought, but didn't say out loud. She didn't need to freak him out more.

"You're not crazy," she said firmly, trying to convince both Damien and herself. "I know you're not. I believe in you."

"You do?" his eyes widened.

"I do."

Before they could move on with the conversation, another man came into the room. Figuring it would be awkward to talk about the weird occurrences happening in the city in front of more strangers, both Marie and Damien remained in silence.

"I think I should go," Marie mumbled in an apologetic tone. "I still need to find out how to go home."

They laughed slightly, probably trying to disperse the tension.

"Thank you for coming."

"Thank you for having me. I'll try to come back soon."

They said their goodbyes and Marie left the room. The other man, who looked slightly familiar to her, was talking to another prisoner.

She grabbed her phone and necklace and headed to the exit - or what she thought was the exit - when a strange yet familiar sensation washed over her.

There was something wrong with the air here, just like at the mall yesterday.

This time, Marie followed the feeling because she wanted. This was her chance to prove to herself that she was not going insane.

The guard that had kept her items was dead, just like the one inside the room. Marie knew this because she couldn't sense their breathing.

When she arrived in the room, the green mist had was already spread around. Marie sucked all the air she could muster and entered the room. The other man, the one she thought looked familiar, was still alive, but suffocating. The prisoner he was visiting was screaming for help, hitting the glass, but seemed unharmed. Marie started shaking her arms as if swaying flies, trying to disperse the poison. The texture of the air seemed to change, turning thicker, malleable. Her fingers started curling like she was dancing, and in a way, she was. The mist was uncontrollable, but the air answered to her command, sending the intruder to the other side of the room. The green mist reassembled as if it had a life of its own, quickly fleeing through the vents. Marie couldn't afford to waste time to think about what had just happened, she needed to find a way of keeping this man alive. She kneeled beside him, unsure of what to do, but before Marie could try anything, she felt a sharp sensation, like a knife cutting the air. Faster than she could blink, the man in red appeared on the other side of the choking man, injecting something on his neck. Then he turned his gaze to the man on the other side of the glass and his face started to shake madly. He looked at Marie next and the only feature of his face she could see was the shade of green of his eyes.

The man on the floor recuperated his breath, his voice hoarse as he spoke to the red lightning. "Go get him."

The red streak disappeared again, leaving that sharp feeling in the air. _They know each other?_ , Marie was thinking, completely dizzy - because of what she has seen or what she was feeling, she didn't know.

"Are you alright, sir?" she asked to the man on the floor.

"Yes, I'll live," he answered breathlessly. "Wherever you did, it scared that away. You were very brave."

"That was probably the only brave thing I've done in my whole life, but thank you, sir," she nodded.

Other guards entered the room and rushed to help them. "I'm fine, help him," Marie gestured to the familiar man trying to rise from the floor, but they were much more insistent than she imagined. Soon, she was at the hospital being checked by the doctors, making sure she hadn't inhaled the gas. They all asked questions about what happened, questions she wasn't sure how to answer, so she kept her answers as vague as possible.

It took longer than she expected, but they finally discharged her. Marie's battery was dead, but she could see by the color of the sky that it was almost dawn. She had a class today at 10, so she hurried to leave the hospital and find a cab.

She was walking through a corridor when she heard a voice calling her. "Hey, are you the girl who helped Joe?" a young man in a blue sweater asked. Joe happened to be the detective that was attacked on Iron Heights, she learned.

"Yes, that's me. I'm Marie," she shook the stranger's hand. "How did you-?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Knew it was you? There's not many girls in Central City with a hair like yours."

Marie smiled back, looking for something witty to say when she noticed that this guy's eyes were really familiar. The realization hit her a moment later. _Red lightning, red lightning, red lightning._

She knew that acknowledging that out loud was a really bad idea, but Marie couldn't stop it. The words seemed to flow out of her mouth. "You're the red lightning."

His eyes widened. "What?! No, I'm-"

"You are," Marie insisted, taking a step back. "There are not many boys in Central City with eyes like yours," this would have sounded much better if the situation wasn't so tense.

He opened his mouth to say something, probably to deny Marie's claims, but realized it was useless. Not again, Marie thought as she felt the air shift again. She blinked, and when her eyes opened again she was standing outside the hospital, away from the people. There was no one she could scream for help here.

Breathless, she stared at the red lightning's face, her eyes almost popping out of the orbits. _This is not a good moment for a panic attack._

"Look, you can't tell anyone," the red lightning looked almost as frightened as she was.

"How... did you-?"

"I'm fast, okay? No reason to panic."

This seemed to awake Marie's senses. "No reason? You have any idea of how many creepy things I've seen in the past two days? A green fog killed a woman on the mall, then almost killed a detective and you, who happens to be a... I have no idea what you are! That's it, I'm going crazy!"

"No, no, you're not crazy!" he tried to calm her down. "I can explain everything, but you need to swear not to tell anyone. Can you do that?" he put his hands on her shoulders. Marie nodded, regaining her composure.

"My name's Barry. Barry Allen. And you're Marie, right?"

"Yes, t-that's me," Marie frowned, remembering the last time she heard this name. "I know who you are... you were struck by lightning, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was! The lightening changed me, it made me..."

"Faster," they said in unison.

Marie ran her hands through her hair as Barry continued. "But I wasn't the only one who changed. The particle accelerator explosion affected others too. We call them meta-humans."

Marie had many questions. "We" who? There where others like him? And most important, was she one of this meta-humans? Was that why she was so sensitive to the air?

"The man you met today was one of them. We call him the Mist."

"That was a man?"

Barry nodded. "A meta-human that can turn into poisonous gas."

"What did you do with him?"

"My friends and I, we have a prison of sorts, for dangerous meta-humans. He won't hurt anyone ever again."

Silence reigned for a couple of seconds until Barry started talking again.

"Joe said you did something with the mist... like you could control it?" he said lightly, encouraging her to tell him more. When Marie didn't answer, he continued. "Are you a meta-human, Marie?"

There was nothing Marie wanted more than saying no, but after Barry's words she wasn't sure if that was the case. Maybe she was a meta-human and then what? Barry and his friends would throw her in their "meta-prison"?

"You just told me that you have your own special prison for meta-humans and now you want me to tell you if I'm one?" _I don't even know what I am_ , she wanted to say.

Realizing his mistake, he quickly tried to make amends. "No, no, it's just for dangerous meta-humans. Like... super villains?"

Marie eyes him suspiciously. "So, you won't arrest me?"

"No, Marie," noticing her hesitation, Barry took a step forward. "Are you a meta-human?"

"...Maybe. I don't know," she sighed. "I can feel the air. The texture, the thickness. I knew were to find the mist because I could sense his presence, like an intruder."

"How long have you been feeling this?"

"Two days, since the incident at the mall."

Marie was so tired that she could sleep on the ground. She just wanted to go home.

"My friends and I, we can help you," Barry offered. "You can learn how to control your ability."

"I... just want a normal life, Mr. Allen," she mumbled, exhausted. "And my bed, too."

She couldn't stop noticing he looked disappointed.

"Sure. I'll give you my number, you can call me if you change your mind."

"Uhn, my battery's dead."

"Here," Barry grabbed his phone and passed to her. "Put your number, I'll call later so you'll have mine."

Marie typed quickly, revising it to make sure it was the right number. She wasn't sure if sharing her phone was a good idea, but she knew his secret, hopefully he could keep hers.

"Thanks for clearing things up," she handed his phone back and straightened her shirt. Marie would do this whenever she felt nervous.

"You're welcome, and thanks for helping Joe," she just nodded sheepishly, ready to leave, when Barry called her again. "And Marie... I won't tell my friends about you."

Marie released a relieved breath. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he threw her a smile.

As she turned her back and went to find a cab, Marie couldn't stop wondering if she had made the right decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, from now on I'll try to post every Saturday. Of course, there might be some random updates through the week but I think it's safer to stick with one good update per week then promise more than I can give. I'll do my best to keep the schedule! And tell me what are your thoughts on this chapter! It is so important to me to know what you think!
> 
> See you next Saturday!


	10. Coupure Électrique

**Chapitre Huit**

_Coupure Électrique_

 

 _White or blue?_ Marie had two leotards in front of her: the simple white and the blue laced one. Which should she wear today?

Marie promised her students she would teach them a variation, and that's what she intended to do on today's class. Learning a variation was something special, and it deserved a special outfit.

"White, definitely," Marie said to herself. "It looks better with the skirt."

Before she could start having second thoughts, Marie grabbed her stuff and left for the studio.

* * *

"So, princess Florine's variation is all about delicacy," she was telling her students an hour later, dressed in the white leotard and a flowing blue mullet skirt. "Some consider it to be an easy choreography, so after we learn the steps we'll be working on perfecting it. Does anyone knows princess Florine's story?"

Morgan, her most dedicated student, raised her hand. "It's the story of a princess who's locked in a tower by her stepmother. Then she meets a prince and they fall in love."

"Yes, Morgan," Marie smiled at her. "The prince is cursed to become a bluebird and visits Florine every day on her tower. He tries to teach her how to fly so she can escape her imprisonment. That's what's the variation is about: Florine trying to fly."

Marie moved to start the music when she heard the whispers of Daphne, a girl that acted like she was above everyone else. "She definitely has experience with flying," she giggled.

Without turning around, Marie answered to her. "I do, Daphne, though I would recommend flying like I did," the other girls laughed at the teacher's remark while Daphne's cheeks were tinged with red. "Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

It had been a while since Marie felt that good. She was... liberated. Like all of her problems disappeared.

But of course, feelings like this don't last.

After the end of her variation class, Marie decided to stop by cake shop and buy herself a treat. She left the studio in a such a hurry that she didn't even bother changing her ballet attire, Marie just slipped her boots and go. The weather was getting colder and colder everyday, but Marie didn't care. She wondered if this was a side-effect of being a meta-human, but she wasn't sure if she was a meta-human to begin with, so she just brushed it off.

_And when you're out there, without care, yeah I was out of touch. But it wasn't because I didn't know enough... I just knew too much._

Marie's earphones were blasting music and she was more than happy to sing along. She was ready to start the chorus when the music suddenly stopped. _What now?_ , she thought. Then the Black Swan entrance started playing and Marie realized someone was calling her. She answered through the earphones, without looking at screen to know who was.

"Hello there!" Marie said with a bright voice. The sooner she ended the call, the sooner she could go back to her music.

" _Marie? It's Barry,_ " she stopped her tracks instantly. _I have a bad feeling about this._ " _We met at the hospital? Do you remember?_ "

"Hi Barry! How are you?" she laughed nervously, looking around to see if she was being followed or something.

" _Well, I might need your help._ "

Marie narrowed her eyes. "What can I do for you?"

" _I don't think it's a good idea to talk about this on the phone. Can we meet?_ "

"You're not trying to lure me to your super-prison, right? Because I always carry a taser with me and I'm not afraid to use it."

This time it was Barry who laughed nervously. " _No, I promise._ "

Marie sighed. "Where?"

" _Do you know the way to Star Labs?_ " he asked.

"I'll find my way," she assured him, opening Google Maps on her phone.

" _Thanks, Marie._ "

"You're welcome. I'll see you soon, okay?" Marie told Barry with a steady voice. There was something really bad going on, she knew it.

" _Call when you arrive, I'll come to find you._ "

"Sure. Bye," she hung up, uncertain about what was going on. Of course, it could be a trap, but Marie decided to take the risk.

If there's one thing you should know about Marie Sheperd is that she likes to play safe. Going to Star Labs was anything but safe, and yet she wanted to go.

Walking as fast as she could, Marie passed as a blur the street of the cake shop. _So much for a nice piece of cheesecake._

* * *

"What's going on? Is everything alright?" Marie was frantic when Barry found her outside Star Labs. She had never been here before, and truthfully, she never expected one day she would come here. But extreme times require extreme measures, or so it seemed.

"Thank you for coming," Barry said. His eyes looked so tired. "There's a new meta-human in town."

"I'll take for your expression that it's a bad guy... or girl."

He nodded. "He feeds on electricity," Barry looked down, as if looking for the right words. "He... he stole my powers. I'm not fast anymore."

Suddenly everything made sense. Marie felt a huge wave of compassion for Barry. After all, she had been on this exact same spot months ago: losing what completes you. For her, it was dancing; for him, it was running.

"Is it possible to reverse it?" Marie asked with wide eyes.

"We don't know yet. My friends are trying to find a way," he blushed before moving on. "Look, I... when I called you it was because I thought you could help us defeat him, but I realized you can't control your powers yet. I think it's better for you to go home."

That angered her more than she expected. _I can't believe I've given up my cheesecake for him to just send me home!_

"I'm not going home," Marie replied stubbornly. "I'll stay and help with... whenever I can."

"It could be dangerous." Barry said after a moment.

"Dangerous? I laugh in the face of danger!" she quoted, and her weak attempt of humor somehow made him smile.

"Let's come in," Barry hushed her through the Star Labs hallways, before stopping by a room. Marie felt like she was in a sci-fi movie, but contained her awe; her mother always told her to never let it show astonishment for something or someone until the right moment.

"Uhn, guys?" Barry said once they entered the room, attracting the attention of the other two people. "There's someone I want you to meet."

The pretty brown-haired woman - or was she a strawberry blonde - spotted Marie first, before sharing a worried look with the man beside her.

"That's Marie. She helped to save Joe, I think she is a meta-human," Barry told them while Marie waved lightly, feeling completely out of place.

"Hi, I'm Cisco Ramon, that's Caitlin Snow - Doctor Snow, I mean," the black-haired young man approached her with a smile. "So, what can you do?" he looked like an excited little puppy, what Marie thought was awfully cute.

Marie looked nervously at Barry, wondering how she could explain. "I-I can feel the air?" she tried.

"Cool, a wind summoner!" Cisco covered his mouth as if he had a great idea. "Wind Summoner, that could be your name!"

Dr. Snow eyed Barry cautiously. "Barry, can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

He sent Marie a look that said "I'll be right back" before following the Doctor to the other side of the room, where they started to talk in hushed tones.

"She's just being overprotective, don't you worry," Cisco said, noticing what Marie was staring.

"It's understandable. I mean, I could be a crazy psychopath for all you know," Marie said. "Which I'm not, I promise!" She quickly added.

Cisco laughed and opened his mouth to say something when Doctor Snow returned, Barry right behind her.

"I think we should do some exams, just to be sure," she told Marie.

"Of course," she nodded in response, though she didn't believe they would found anything anormal in her. Marie had done countless exams after the accident and none appointed any unusualness. However, they did say that her recover was faster than normal - though not fast enough for her to return to the company, apparently.

Marie sat on a chair while Doctor Snow prepared a large needle. She cringed at the thought of that entering her skin.

"So, how did you get your powers?" Cisco asked in an attempt to distract her.

Marie frowned. "I was affected by the explosion?"

"No, no, what were you doing when it happened?"

Barry stepped in. "What Cisco's trying to say is that we think your powers are connected to what you were doing at the time of the explosion, or maybe some trait of your personality. Do you remember the Mist?" Marie nodded. "He was receiving the death penalty when it happened, that's were his powers come from."

Marie shifted uncomfortably on the chair. Talking about the accident was always intense, and she didn't wanted to start crying.

"I was dancing," she said vaguely. Barry and Cisco just waited her to go on. "I'm a ballet teacher now, obviously," she motioned at her clothes, the same outfit take took so much for her to choose. "But I used to be a professional dancer for Central City Ballet. Last year I was casted as the main character of La Sylphide. That's what I was doing when it happened," Marie stopped to take a deep breath before going on. "It was the entrance of the second act. I had to come in tied on strings so it looked like I was flying, but something went wrong. The lights went out halfway through my descent, and then I heard something snap and... I fell. I woke up in the hospital. It was... bad. I ruptured my Achilles Tendon, my knee dislocated... the doctors told me I would never be able to dance professionally again. One moment I was on top of the world, and suddenly I was on the deep bottom."

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that," Cisco said.

"Thank you," Marie swallowed the lump on her throat. "But it makes sense. Sylphs are air spirits, so aerokinesis sounds appropriate," she sighed.

The tension dispersed when Cisco left the room to do... something. Marie hadn't asked, but probably it had something to do with the evil meta-human that stole Barry's powers. Doctor Snow, or Caitlin, as she asked to be called, took samples of her blood. She wanted to run more tests, but their time was short and finding a way to recover Barry's speed was clearly the focus.

Thought Marie wanted to help, she had no idea what she could do. Her power seemed uncontrollable, and she haven't sensed the air since the day on the hospital. So she stood cautiously to the side, feeling just like the outcast she was used to be.

"You think I'll ever wear it again?" Marie heard Barry ask Caitlin, looking at his Flash suit.

"I hope so," the Doctor answered gently.

Marie started fiddling with the shoelaces of her sneakers, pretending she wasn't paying attention to their conversation. She didn't wanted to look intrusive.

"I didn't have my speed for very long, but now that it's gone, it feels like part of me is gone too."

"With or without your speed, you're still you, Barry," Caitlin said.

"But I'm not. I'm not the best version of me. I love being The Flash. I love everything about it: The feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people. I'm not sure I can live without it, Caitlin."

Marie knew exactly like he felt. After the accident, being told that her body would never heal enough for her to be even with the other dancers, she was broken. Years of training destroyed in less than a minute. For Barry, it was worse, she realized. His speed had been handed to him and he accepted the responsibility his powers brought. And then it was gone. Her career was gone, Barry's powers were gone. It was in that moment Marie promised herself she would do anything she could to help him get his speed back.

"Farooq Gibran," Cisco announced.

"Who?" Barry asked.

"The powers vampire who jacked your speed. I hacked into the surveillance footage from the Petersburg substation," he turned his tablet so that Caitlin and Barry could see his face. Curious, Marie approached the group, standing a few steps away from them. "Once I got his face, it was easy to find a match."

"He climbed an electrical tower the night of the accelerator explosion."

"No surprise where his powers came from," Caitlin agreed.

Suddenly an alarm started ringing, and Marie's senses sprung to action. The air around her was crackling on a very unsettling tone. While she shook her head nervously, trying to get rid of the unsettling sound, the other three ran to the desk, looking at the computer screen with worry.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Barry sighed.

"This is not happening," Caitlin said.

This seemed to awake Marie from her dazzled state, and she joined them at the desk. The screen showed a man with a murderous look on his face, screaming at the surveillance camera.

" _Dr. Harrison Wells, I need to see you! Come on, I know you're inside,_ " he was shouting. " _Open the door. I just want to talk, Dr. Wells. Wells! Let me in!_ "

"Is that him?" Marie asked to Barry. The grave look he send her was the only answer she needed.

They watched silently as the man used his powers to break into a electricity generator and proceed to "feed" with the energy. The lights went off and Marie started panicking. She became afraid of the dark since the accident.

"A blackout?" she whispered. "I have a terrible feeling about this."

Farooq shot his lightenings at the door, and that's when everything went down.

"He's inside," Barry said, his shock matching her own.

"What do we do?" Marie asked.

"We need help. I'll call Joe," Barry grabbed his phone and went to the other side of the room, while Cisco and Caitlin seemed to be putting the whole facility under lockdown. Then the famous Doctor Harrison Wells arrived on his wheelchair - and Marie couldn't stop thinking about her mom and how she nicknamed him: _Hot Doc_.

"He's here," he said. It sounded more like a statement than a question. Then he noticed Marie was standing there. "Who are you?"

She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, like she was being X-rayded. "I'm Marie Sheperd, sir... I mean, Doctor," she shook his hand quickly. "Mr. Allen brought me here. I'm a meta-human."

He eyed her curiously. "Mr. Allen has a terrible timing sometimes."

"I can't help but agree," she laughed dryly. _Don't panic_ , Marie, she repeated to herself like a motto. She tried to concentrate on other things like how she had just met one of her mother's crushes or the locks of curly hair coming out of her low bun, but it didn't seem to help.

"Joe and Iris are in trouble. I need my powers back _now,_ " Barry said with a grievous expression. Marie didn't even had time to ask who was Iris or what was going on.

"I have a theory. It's untested," Doctor Wells stated.

"I'm willing to roll the dice," Barry nodded eagerly.

"Okay, you've lost your speed, yes, but nothing has changed inside you on a subatomic level. In other words, your cells are still primed," the Doctor started.

"They just need a jumpstart," Cisco said, an understanding expression on his face.

Marie narrowed her eyes, starting to understand where they were trying to get.

"Okay, how do we do that? How do we jumpstart me?" Barry asked.

Doctor Wells didn't even hesitated. "We need to replicate the initial jolt to your system."

"Like a lightning bolt?" Marie asked, receiving a light nod from Doctor Wells as answer.

"That would mean a peak current of at least 20,000 kilo-amps," Cisco said.

"Are you insane?" Caitlin shot in the discussion. "That's more electricity than they give to people in the electric chair."

"Caitlin, with Farooq in the building, we're all looking at a death sentence here."

Marie eyed the doctor. "But what about the blackout?"

"The spare generator's offline. If we reboot it, we could get a charge that big," Cisco answered for him.

Wells nodded. "We need something that can transmit the load from the generator to Barry's body without shorting out."

"The treadmill. My baby could take the charge," Marie decided it wasn't time to ask questions, even if all this scientific talk was forming a huge knot in her mind.

"What if Barry can't?" Caitlin said, worried.

"Well, that's up to Mr. Allen," Wells answered and all eyes turned to Barry, waiting for a decision on his part. Instead, he turned around and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna talk to him," he said.

"No. No," Doctor Wells shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Marie murmured.

"Okay, you didn't see him at the substation," Barry started. "He needed to feed. I got super speed out of the particle accelerator blast, but his best friends died. He woke up with a disease."

"Earlier today, you worked a crime scene where this meta-human electrocuted an innocent man. He's a murderer!" Wells shouted and Marie bristled after hearing his tone. He could be very scary sometimes. "And you are powerless to defend yourself against him."

"He may just need help like I did. I don't need my powers to offer him that."

He left the room stubbornly, leaving a very surprised Marie behind. She never thought she would meet someone who embodied the phrase "you're either very brave or very stupid", but she was wrong. This person was Barry Allen.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" she asked the other people in the room, wondering if they would leave their friend face his possible death all by himself.

"Yes," Doctor Wells took the lead. "Miss Sheperd, you should be extra cautious," he warned her. "It this meta-human has a preference for feeding from others like him, you'll be his first target."

She nodded almost frenetically, her brown eyes wide with fear.

They all hid behind a door; Caitlin, Cisco and Marie on one side and Doctor Wells on the other. If anything went wrong - which probably would - they just needed to pull Barry in and close the door.

_Easier said than done._

Marie could hear the voices of Barry and the other meta-human, but her focus was somewhere else. The air was whistling with electricity, a feeling that Marie found very unsettling. She closed her eyes, trying her best to ignore the sensation when she realized that she could use it for their advantage.

Marie could sense the air shifting as they moved, the breathing of everyone around her. If she payed enough attention, maybe she could try to predict their movements...

But the air was telling otherwise. Just like in the prison, she felt it become thicker, like energy flowing through her. _Just give a command_ , she said to herself, _think what you want it to do and the air will obey_.

Her eyes shot open in the moment she felt the electricity cutting through the ambient and saw Barry being thrown back in their direction. Before Cisco could lock the door, Marie ran out of her hiding place and knelt on the ground in front of the door. She twisted her fingers and a strong air current flew past her, making her hair even more disheveled. But it worked, because the wind was so strong that the electricity vampire was thrown away. Before he could stand up, Cisco closed the door and Doctor Wells started giving orders.

"Done being noble, Mr. Allen?" he sounded sarcastic. "Caitlin, Miss Sheperd, get him to the treadmill. Cisco, bring the generator online."

Both Caitlin and Marie didn't need more instructions. Though she was still shaken by what she had done, Marie quickly recovered herself and helped Barry get up. She had no idea were the treadmill was, so she just followed Caitlin's lead.

When they arrived in the room where the treadmill was supposed to be, Caitlin immediately started checking Barry's injured arm.

"I'm not healing fast anymore," he acknowledged. She just nodded awkwardly in response. "That's unfortunate."

"Keep an eye on him," she told Marie before moving to connect something in the treadmill. "Don't worry, when Dr. Wells has a theory, he's usually right."

"What if something happens to Joe and Iris first?" he sounded worried.

"It won't," Marie tried to reassure him, her voice surprisingly strong. "Have some faith, Barry."

He opened his mouth to say something, but them they heard it: the sound of cracking electricity announcing that Farooq was close. They all shared a panicked look for a second, before Marie pointed to the wall, crawling to hide under the glass. Caitlin and Barry, understanding what she was suggesting, joined her. Caitlin looked at her, curling her fingers as she was asking if Marie could do something. She closed her eyes, extending her senses, trying to command the air to do something - anything, really - but she couldn't feel anything in her terrified state.

Barry nudged her and Marie realized they didn't had time for this. The three of them silently crawled into a small door, the space too small for the them. She felt Caitlin holding her hand and Marie asked herself if that was how she died. She would never do the things on her "do it before you die" list: she wouldn't live to see the Bolshoi performing live, she would never dance in the rain with the love of her life, she wouldn't have the chance to know her father or say goodbye to her mother. Marie was not much of a religious person, but in that moment, she closed her eyes and prayed.

She prayed for the ones who stayed behind: for Damien in prison, for Paige living her - _their_ \- dream, for her family and the people of Central City that would lose their newfound hero.

She could hear Farooq's words, but she wasn't listening. In that moment, right before her eminent death, it wasn't fear Marie felt, it was powerlessness. She promised herself that if she survived this, even if by a miracle, she would never feel powerless again.

But death didn't come for her. Instead, they heard Farooq steps retreating. That was enough to send Barry into overdrive.

He ran to the treadmill, Caitlin following behind, a stunned Marie noticing the lights were on coming for last.

"Turn on the treadmill," Barry ordered.

Caitlin hesitated. "You're still hurt."

"We don't have time! Caitlin!"

"I can't," she looked at him with broken eyes.

"We don't have a choice."

"If I turn this on, it could kill you."

"If you don't, we could all die."

"I already lost someone I cared about in this building, I can't do it again," she said strongly, making Marie even more confused about what they were talking about.

Noticing Caitlin's hesitation, Barry turned to Marie. "Marie, you understand, don't you? If you had to run the risk so you could dance again, so you could help people again, wouldn't you?"

Marie wasn't sure if she could do what he was asking her to. Sure, she understand what he was going through, but his life was at stake... but Barry did had a point: they could all die if they didn't try.

_I'll never be powerless again._

"If you die I'll have your blood on my hands," she kept her eyes on his. Barry just nodded.

Caitlin watched wide eyed as Marie quickly pushed the lever. _Please don't die_ , both women were thinking.

His body was thrown in the air for the second time today, landing with a loud noise. The two women ran to check if he was still alive.

"My God, are you okay? Did you feel anything?" Caitlin was asking at the same time a frantic Marie kept repeating "I'm sorry" non-stop.

Barry's hand started shaking madly, then stopped. "It didn't work," he said, disappointed.

"We should leave. Now," Marie said, hearing the electricity noise again. "Farooq will kill all of us if we don't."

They didn't disagree. Marie extended her hand to Barry, helping him rise to his feet. He nodded in acknowledgment, taking the lead to guide them to somewhere safe - anywhere else seemed safer to Marie.

But once they turned in the corridor, another man came flying on their direction. Caitlin and Marie stayed back, but Barry approached the lying figure of the man with an air of recognition - and even concern.

"Tony. Hey, Tony, what are you doing?" he asked quietly. "Oh, come on." Barry tried to help him rise.

"You know me, Allen. I never run from a fight," he answered breathlessly.

"Who's this?" Marie whispered to Caitlin.

"Barry's childhood nemesis. He was supposed to be locked up..."

Before she could finish, the man murmured a low "run", and stopped breathing. He was dead.

Shock run through Marie's body, being replaced with horror when she heard the crackling noise that indicated Farooq was near. Caitlin ran to get Barry, pulling him up and forcing him to run away.

They stopped by a door, Barry and Caitlin rushing in first, leaving Marie to lock the door. She laid her back against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

"You're winded. That's not good," Cisco said, looking at Barry.

Caitlin ignored him. "I need to take your blood and figure out what happened."

"I can't believe he's dead," Barry mumbled.

"Dr. Wells?" Cisco asked, startled.

"No, no. Tony Woodward. He escaped from the pipeline."

"He must have got out when the blackout hit."

"Not possible. The pipeline was designed to withstand a power outage," Cisco said. "Someone had to have let him go."

"I did. I released him," Doctor Wells popped out of nowhere again, startling Marie.

"Why?" Barry inquired.

"To divert our intruder's attention while we worked to restore your speed."

"You used him as a distraction?"

The Doctor seemed unfazed. "An unnecessary one, as it turns out. It seems the plan has failed."

Marie was frozen on her spot. How could someone be that cold? She just couldn't understand. Apparently, Barry couldn't too.

"I... I have his blood on me," he looked down at his blood-stained blue sweater. "How could you do that?"

"You're showing a lot of sentiment for a man who tormented you as a child," the Doctor stated.

"Tony might have been a bully then and now, but he didn't deserve to die?," Marie couldn't disagree with Barry. She thought of her ballet classmates. They never bullied her, they just ignored Marie as if she didn't exist, but she would never sacrifice one of them to save herself. Just the thought sounded inhuman.

"Does Caitlin or Cisco? Or Miss Sheperd or me or you? I had a choice to make, him or us. I chose us without a second thought."

"Well, all your talk about miracle cures and scientific breakthroughs, but you don't care about people at all," Barry shot at him.

"Well, maybe you care too much, Barry. I know being a hero is important to you, and I respect your ideals. I just don't have the luxury of sharing them."

The air was so thick with tension Marie could have cut it with a knife. She just wanted to go home and cry alone on her bed.

But they weren't done yet.

"I forgot. Your game's chess. We're all just pawns to you, right?" Barry looked enraged. "So what's your move, Doctor? Which one of us gets sacrificed next?"

This just seems to get worse, Marie sighed in her head. She knew they were running out of time. Thankfully, the others knew that too.

"We have to get out of the facility."

"We just left him on D level," Caitlin said.

"We'll never make it to the main entrance from here."

"What about the garage, the mobile lab van?"

Doctor Wells agreed. "It's my move, Mr. Allen, and I say we make a run for it."

But before they could leave, Caitlin gasped. "Oh, my God. Barry, look. Your cells, they're rapidly regenerating."

He looked confused. "I still don't have my speed."

"It must be mental, not physical," she told him.

"Oh, you have the yips," Cisco said strangely excited. Marie was familiar with the term: as a ballerina, performing in front of a crowd - or even in a small classroom - can make you rather hesitant. But one thing is being paralyzed because you're afraid to fail a step, other completely different is trust yourself enough to get you super-speed back.

"The whats?" Barry asked.

"You know. When a second baseman all of a sudden can't throw to first or a golfer tries to putt and they get all embarrassed and upset, and then that makes the yips worse, and it's a hot mess, and then they feel like even more of a failure," Cisco tried to explain, but Barry only looked more confused.

"That's not helping."

Marie thought it might be her time to intervene. "You're afraid," she said softly, their heads turning to face her. Marie had been in silence for so long they practically forgot she was there. "You're afraid of failure. I guess it's safe to say we all are," Marie knew it was a terrible encouraging speech, but she hoped it could work. "Stop thinking. Just... forget the logic for a moment and do what it feels like doing. You don't need to be scared of stepping into territory you already know. If you don't believe in yourself, who else will?" that was exactly what her mother told her years ago, when Marie thought of giving up. It was strange to pass that advice ahead, but perhaps it was what Barry needed to hear.

She would have liked to say more, but Doctor Wells was right: they needed to get out right now. Marie gave space for Wells and Barry to lead the way, following their tracks and looking back nervously each five seconds. She knew that if Farooq found them they would hear the usual sound of electricity - that Marie knew she would dread forever - but that didn't mean she shouldn't keep an eye open.

When they arrived in the garage, with Barry rushing to start the van, the lights went down again. Marie's blood runs cold at the realization that they had been caught.

"He's here," Wells said darkly, but Marie barely noticed. She was trying to use her own advice to Barry as a way of accessing her powers. _Don't be afraid, trust yourself, breath._

But it wasn't working. It was like the powers had their own will and work when she least expected.

The four of them watched helplessly as Farooq shot a lightning at the van, Barry jumping out of it in the last minute.

Marie released a blood-curdling scream while Caitlin and Cisco ran to their fallen friend's side. She would have followed them, but her feet seemed to be glued to the floor. She was paralyzed.

Marie felt a hand gripping her wrist and for a moment thought it was Farooq, but then realized he was on the other side. It was Doctor Wells.

"Go with Caitlin and Cisco," he ordered simply, and Marie complied with no response. Her legs felt numb, her vision was blurry and her heart seemed to be close to explode, but she did exactly what Wells said.

She didn't even had time to kneel beside her friends - because if they survived through this night, Marie was sure the near death experience would assure they were friends - because Farooq was ready to shoot at then. Standing behind then, Marie tried with all her might to use her powers, invoke a gust of wind, anything that could help, but she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. We are all going to die and it's my fault.

"Oh my God, no please!" Caitlin pleaded, holding tightly to Barry's right arm.

"Hey!" all heads turned to the direction of the shout. It was Wells. "You're here for me."

They watched in stunned silence as Farooq focused his attention on the doctor.

"He will kill him," Marie whispered breathlessly. "And then he'll finish us."

"Finally you show your face." He growled.

"Well, I wasn't exactly eager to be killed," the doctor shook his head.

"Neither were my friends."

"I know. I hurt a lot of people that night."

Marie's heart shrunk at the reminder of the deaths the explosion caused. She had lost her career, but many had lost their lives. Families that would be forced to go on without a child, a sibling, a parent. There was a lot of weight on Wells' shoulders.

But Farooq was still enraged. "People? You don't even know their names."

"Jake Davenport. Darya Kim," he said lowly, surprising them all. "Ralph Dibny, Al Rothstein, Grant Emerson, Will Everett, Bea Da Costa, Ronnie Raymond," the doctor looked at Caitlin for a moment, and Marie wondered what that was supposed to mean. "I know the names of every person who died that night. I know they all mattered, and the fact that the world is now deprived of their potential is something that I have to live with every day, but these people... these people have done nothing wrong. You want to punish me? Fine, let's do that, but let these people live."

Marie couldn't believe what he was doing. She was sure Farooq couldn't control himself; he would kill them all. Why Wells was sacrificing for them?

She was so shocked she missed Farooq's next words, her focus turning to the desperate people next to her. Barry seemed shocked and Cisco was paralyzed, while Caitlin was the incarnation of heartbreak.

And then everything happened so fast. In a blink, Doctor Wells was on the spot were Barry had been, Farooq looked around, confused, and the Flash popped up, ready to face him. Marie wasn't sure if that meant they were saved or not, but the only thought that crossed her head was that Barry actually had time to suit up to fight Farooq. She didn't know if that was cool or crazy. Probably a bit of both.

Farooq shot his lightnings right into Barry's chest, and for a moment Marie thought they were all through. She realized that the electricity wasn't harming Barry at all, and then Farooq fell on the floor, immobile.

Less than a second later, Barry was gone.

"Is he dead?" Marie asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Wells answered coldly.

The next 20 minutes were a blur for Marie. While the scientists removed Farooq's body from the floor, she tiptoed out of the scene, grabbed her bag from upstairs and left the building without turning back.

Marie walked her way home as fast as she could. Once she arrived, she dunked on the bathroom floor, letting the water wash over her. She wanted to cry or scream or feel something, but she just felt hollow.

_What's wrong with me? I witnessed two people dying and I'm not even sad._

She lost notion of time. Numb, Marie turned the shower off, throwing her wet clothes on the floor and crawled into her bed, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my beautiful readers! It's UPDATE DAY! I was so excited to share this chapter with you all, so if you spot any mistakes it's cause I barely had time to revise it for you. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about it! Also, just a quick question for you all: do you prefer longer or shorter chapters? Because, as a reader, I personally prefers longer chapters, but as an author, my chaps tend to be on the shorter side. So, what do you guys think?
> 
> See you next week, Anna!


	11. Cygne Blanc, Cygne Noir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello my dear readers! I know I'm a little late, but better later than never right? I won't lie, I was a little upset that the last chapter didn't got any reviews, but I prefer to think you didn't had time to write something instead of abandoning the story. If you're still there, let me know! Hearing from you makes my days better!

**Chapitre Neuf**

_Cygne Blanc, Cygne Noir_

Marie couldn't sleep past 6AM. She woke up with swollen eyes and her pillowcase stained with green from her hair. Realizing she wouldn't go back to sleep, Marie started getting ready for her morning class.

Teaching was good. It washed away all of her other concerns and helped calming her mind after the events of yesterday. Marie was still very confused about her feeling: she imagined she would be traumatized or at least extremely anxious, like usual. She was afraid of everything, for God's sake! Surely her mind would induce her to be terrified.

But she wasn't, and that was much more terrifying than the fact that she almost died yesterday. She wasn't feeling anything except for the helplessness of standing there and not being a able to do something useful, and Marie didn't know what that meant.

"That's all for today, girls," Marie clapped, her students following her lead. "It was great! Next week we might start rehearsing our choreography for the Christmas recital, what do you think?"

A chorus of excited "ohs" and "yeahs" was all the answers she needed. One by one, the students left the room, thanking Marie for the class. Soon they were all gone, and she headed to the CD player to retrieve her customized CD, one that included all of her favorite pieces of ballet class music.

"Uhn, hello?" a hesitant yet familiar voice said behind her. The sudden fright made Marie jump, her hand holding her chest nervously after she recognized Barry. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," she panted, laughing nervously. "This happens all the time."

Recovering her breath, Marie eyed him with curiosity. "How did you found me here?"

"I might have asked Cisco to figure that out?" Barry answered. His puppy eyes made him look like a twelve year old, and Marie dropped the subject. Noticing she wouldn't say anything else, he took a step ahead. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

Barry extended his hand and Marie saw a single red tulip being offered to her. Ballerinas usually received flowers after performances, but Marie hadn't time to get hers after La Sylphide. Instead, the beautiful bouquet of white roses her mother bought her was displayed on her hospital room, like a painful reminder of the tragedy that struck her.

Seeing that perfect little flower in Barry's hand made her eyes fill with tears of both good and bad memories. Unfortunately, he understood differently. "Please, don't cry! I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry, I'm alright," Marie waved dismissively, her smile turning into a wistful one. "It's just... I really like flowers."

She accepted the tulip, admiring the red shade of its petals.

"So," he started. "Is a flower enough to convince you to have coffee with me?"

Marie felt her face heating up. "You want to have coffee with me?!"

"Yes!" Barry coughed. "I think we really need to talk. I mean, about yesterday and... stuff," he rubbed the back of his head.

Marie nodded. "Of course, I'll just grab my things."

She packed the CD quickly, feeling like she was heading to the principal's office. What could he want with her?

Marie pulled her coat hastily from her bag, dressing it and completely ignoring the fact that it was totally creased. She changed into regular shoes instead of ballet flats and placed her tulip onto her bun, breaking the stalk to fit in better.

"Do you know anywhere where we can have coffee? I'm kind of new to this region," Marie asked Barry as they left the room.

"Actually, I know exactly where we can go," he smiled at her. Janet, the school's receptionist, eyed then strangely, probably wondering who Barry was. Marie waved at her before leaving.

"So," she tried to small talk on the way. Marie was terrible at that. "How are Joe and... Isis? You said they were in trouble yesterday."

"Iris," he corrected. "She's Joe's daughter," Marie didn't missed his soft tone when he said her name. "They got involved in a hostage situation at the police station."

"Are they alright?" she asked, wide eyed.

"Yes, Joe and Iris are," he nodded vigorously. "But Eddie - he's Iris' boyfriend - he got shot."

Marie couldn't identify his thoughts on that matter. Thought Barry seemed obviously shaken by this Eddie character being shot, he also looked... heartbroken. _Weird._

"But he'll make it, right?"

"Yes, he's stable."

She whispered a low "good", and then silence reigned. Marie was starting to get uncomfortable when Barry announced they had arrived.

The place was called Jitters. Marie was surprised that Paige never brought her here, her friend seemed to know all about coffee shops on Central City. She told herself to remember telling Paige about this place.

Marie and Barry ordered their beverages and then sat in a small table for two. The uncomfortable silence filled the space one more time, until Marie spoke:

"So," she cleared her throat to make her voice more steady. "What do you want to talk about?"

This seemed to take Barry out of his reverie. "I-I just wanted to make sure you're fine. I guess I just needed to check and see if you're not having a mental breakdown," he laughed nervously.

Marie bit her lip, fiddling with the small ballerina pendant of her necklace. How could she explain that she was having the opposite of a breakdown?

Interpreting her lack of response as a yes, Barry added quickly. "If that's the case, we can help you! And if you never want to see any of us ever again, that's completely understandable, but I'm no..."

Marie started laughing at his nervousness. She couldn't lie, it was kind of cute, and even helped her feeling more at ease. Barry eyed her, confused.

"I'm sorry, I use to laugh at inappropriate moments," she bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to stop laughing.

"So you're not having a mental breakdown?" Barry asked cautiously.

"No." Marie smiled in return before taking a more serious position, wondering how she could explain what was going on in her mind without sounding crazy. "Actually, I-"

She stopped talking when she realized that a very pretty woman was walking on their direction, holding a mug full of coffee on each hand. She looked like a supermodel or a famous actress, and all Marie could think was how a girl like her was serving tables instead of getting nominated for Emmys and Oscars.

"Hi!" she smiled brightly at then, getting Barry's attention.

"Iris," he beamed at her. "I thought you would be home today."

She placed the mugs on the table and waved her hand dismissively. "It seems there's no rest for the wicked," then she turned to Marie, extending her hand. "Hey, I'm Iris."

"Marie Sheperd," she shook the woman's hand. "I heard about you, you're Joe's daughter, right?" Marie started to notice the resemblance between the two.

"You've met my father?" Iris asked.

"Marie was in Iron Heights when Joe was attacked, that's how we met," Barry told her.

"So romantic," Iris sent a suggestive look to Barry, causing him to blush. "Well, I'll go back to work. It was nice to meet you, Marie. Enjoy your date."

"It's not a-" a flushed Barry tried to say, but Iris was already leaving. The returned his gaze to Marie, whose face was as red as the tulip he gave her. "That was Iris."

"She seems nice," Marie sipped on her coffee, regretting it immediately. It was hotter than she thought it would be.

"She is." Barry seemed to wonder for a moment, but his focus returned quickly. "What were you saying?"

Marie took a deep breath, her eyes looking anywhere except Barry's. "Oh, about that..."

He noticed her hesitation. "Whatever it is, you can tell me, Marie. We're friends, right?"

"Yes," she breathed out. "Yes, we're friends. So, the thing is what we've been through last night, it's not affecting me as I thought it would."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No!" she nearly shouted. "Yes! I don't know." Marie looked down at her coffee. "I'm used to be scared of everything. Going through a near death experience and then don't feel fear or anything really, it's out of character of me."

Barry remained in silence, waiting for her to go on.

"But there's this thing that's bothering me," Marie finally said, raising her eyes to look at Barry's. "When we were there, with Farooq on our trail... he was going to kill us. You couldn't use your powers and I had no idea what to do with mine. I was supposed to be able to help, but I couldn't, and I never felt that helpless in my whole life."

He eyed her carefully, as if trying to see through her, and Marie lowered her eyes. _Congratulations, Marie, you just freaked him out._

"When I was eleven, my mother was murdered," Marie's eyes widened at the revelation. "I woke up in the middle of the night and saw what looked like lightning bolts around her. I tried to tell this the cops, but no one believed me. My father was arrested for a crime I know he didn't commit."

"I'm so sorry, Barry," Marie told him truthfully. Her cheeks were red with embarrassment; here she was rambling about her lack of fear when Barry had gone through so much worse at such a young age.

"It's okay, you didn't know," he said. "What I'm trying to say is that I've been there before. I know what it feels like to feel powerless."

"Is that why you decided to become the Flash?" Marie asked. "To feel like you're in control?"

"It sounds so selfish putting that way," he smiled a bit. "I want to help people like I wish someone had helped my mother."

It was Marie's turn to eye him with curiosity. There was so much more to this guy than she had imagined originally. _Of course he has a reason to do this, or you thought he just liked running around in a costume? Silly Marie._

"I..." she stared at him in silence, unsure what to say. "I don't know how to control it. My powers," the word sounded strange to her tongue. "Can you help me?"

For a moment, he just looked at her, and Marie started to wonder if it had been a good idea to ask for help. But then Barry opened a big smile and relief coursed through her body. "I would like that."

And Marie was incapable of stopping the smile that grew on her face too.

* * *

 

During the next weeks, Barry and Marie would meet nearly everyday. Sometimes they had coffee together, sometimes they would just go to train. Marie was starting to feel comfortable around Cisco and Caitlin as well, thought Doctor Wells remained a mystery to her.

While her social life seemed to be at its best, Marie's training was definitely not going well. She still didn't knew how to access her powers, how to trigger them. There were days were she woke up feeling the awareness of her surroundings that her power provided, and the sensation would last for hours. During these days, Barry and her made a small progress in their training: Marie could sense the air shifting around him as he moved faster than her eyes could see, and she learned she could predict where he was going. Barry would have her levitate small objects, first pencils, then books, then fruits. Cisco was by far the most excited of them; he had many ideas on how Marie could wear her newfound abilities: choking people Darth Vader style, manipulating the air currents to be able to fly, use it as telekinesis to move all types of objects, and so it goes.

But most days she would feel nothing. Marie would try for hours to concentrate and access her connection to the air, but she couldn't. Caitlin was trying to figure out what could be holding her back, but Marie knew it was her responsibility to deal with, what only made the things worse.

Looking at the brighter side, the proximity to Christmas meant one thing: her mother was coming to visit. Thought Karen had spent months living with Marie and helping during her recovery, she missed her mother terribly. Maybe being around her would inspire her to unlock her powers.

Today was one of her bad days. She couldn't sense her powers, she had slept in and got late to her morning class and her knee was starting to complain. Hopefully lunch with Paige would help.

Instead of meeting in a coffee shop as usual, they went to an actual restaurant. Marie arrived first, releasing her hair from the bun while she waited for Paige. Her friend arrived only a couple of minutes later.

"Sorry, I'm late," a breathless Paige told her after a quick hug.

"It's alright, just a few minutes wouldn't kill me."

"Have you asked yet?" Paige pointed the menu.

"Sorry, I did," Marie made a guilty face. "But I was starving! I got late for work and didn't had time for breakfast."

Paige sent her a suggestive look. "Maybe you would, if only you tell me what are you doing every time you mysteriously disappear."

Marie felt a pang of guilt rush through her. She hadn't told Paige about the whole meta-human thing, and she didn't intended to tell anytime soon. Barry didn't share his secret with Iris because he was afraid of endangering her, so Marie decided to do the same. But of course Paige noticed that she had been way more busy than normal.

Thankfully for Marie, the waiter appeared right on time to take Paige's order, and the subject was cut short. She knew her friend would ask about this again, but hopefully next time Marie would have a good explanation.

"Anyway, there's something I need to tell you," a bright smile took over her friend's face as the waiter left their table.

"Go on, I'm all ears!" Marie sipped her orange juice.

"Grace is injured."

Marie knew who she was talking about. Grace Deville was one of the stars of Central City Ballet and an inspiration for both of them. Why the news of her injury cheered Paige, she didn't know.

"But didn't she just got back?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, but she's not the same after she had the baby. That's why I'm never having children."

"That's really bad," Marie sighed. "Most dancers recover just fine from their pregnancies."

"Well, Grace it's not one of them," Paige nodded. "First the baby, then her ankle last year and now a hip injury? She's going through a lot. But you know what that means, right?"

Marie narrowed her eyes, thoughtful. "That she might retire earlier than expected?"

"That too, but that's not what I'm excited about!" Paige looked like she could explode in happiness. "It's means I'll replace her for some performances of the short season of Swan Lake!"

Of course, Marie realized. How she could forget that? Paige told her a few months ago that she would be learning the roles of White Swan/Black Swan as an understudy for CCB's Christmas season of Swan Lake. At the time, none of them gave it too much attention, because understudies weren't always necessary, since the company could just call another dancer familiar to the role to perform, but now she realized how serious this happened to be. But it was not the reason why she was upset with herself.

The main role in Swan Lake was the ultimate part for a ballerina to perform, and it was Marie's dream role. While Paige preferred more energetic parts like Kitri or the Firebird, Marie was the classic romantic ballerina, and roles like Giselle and Juliet seemed to fit her perfectly. The thought of seeing Paige dancing the role of her life gave Marie a sour taste in her mouth, and she found herself disgusted with her own behavior. _Paige's your best friend, you need to be happy for her!_ , she scolded herself.

"That's amazing!" Marie plastered her face with the biggest and most painful smile of her life. Inside, she wanted nothing more than cry for the rest of the day while watching her Swan Lake DVD's as a self torture. "You'll be amazing, I know!"

"Thanks, Marie," her friend smiled back, and seeing Paige so happy brought a small comfort to her heart. "But I need your help."

"My help?"

"No one loves this ballet like you, Marie. I'll never become Odette or Odile without you," Paige extended her hand, holding Marie's across the table.

"You know we... you - you have teachers for that right? I mean, Paige, I've never danced this role. I don't have the baggage to help you with that."

"I know, I know, but they don't see the characters like you do! Remember when we were watching the White Swan adagio and you said that Odette was probably in pain the whole time? 'She wants to love him, but she can't allow herself to hope for someone to break the curse', you said. Or how you told me you wouldn't lower your head while playing Odile, because she thinks she's above everyone else?"

"Yes, I remember," Marie bit her lower lip.

"Well, that's all I'm asking you to do. Give me your insights on the story!"

Marie hesitated. She wasn't lying when she said she didn't had the baggage to do that. What if someone in the company figured out she was helping and felt offended by her looking for advice somewhere else? Marie didn't wanted to get her friend in trouble. But she knew that part of her hesitation was because she just didn't wanted to help Paige. She wanted David Moore to think Paige's portrayal of the two main parts where so absurd that he would never cast her again for this role.

_Don't do this to yourself, Marie! Swallow your jealousy and help your friend, for God's sake!_

"When's your next day off?" Marie sighed in defeat, and Paige giggled like a teenage girl.

"I knew you couldn't say no!"

Their food arrived right on time, and Marie zoned out. Even her appetite seemed to be gone. But Paige was on fire, shooting her expectations on the weeks to come. She was so excited she didn't even notice Marie wasn't truly listening as she answered her friend with nods and yeses.

The entrance of the Black Swan started playing and Marie quickly grabbed her phone from her purse while Paige looked at her with a surprised expression.

"Hello?" Marie said.

"Marie, it's Cisco. Can you come over Star Labs?"

She wasn't going to deny the request, but frowned anyway. "I thought Barry would work today?"

"Yeah, he came across a situation..." Cisco trailed off.

"Got it," Marie said, already gathering her stuff to leave. This meant Barry had faced another meta-human, and even if Marie wasn't strong enough to help him with that, she wanted to be there and absorb all the knowledge she could. "I'll be there in ten."

She quickly said goodbye to Cisco and turned to Paige, who was watching her with a slightly annoyed face. Marie realized her friend was upset because she had interrupted the conversation, and felt a pang of guilt for having to leave.

"Sorry, Paige," she grabbed money to pay for the bill, handing it to her friend. "It's an emergency. But this conversation's not over, I promise! I'll call you later?"

"Don't bother," Paige said, her dry tone surprising Marie. "Focus on your _emergency_ , I'll be fine."

Marie's heart dropped. Paige must have noticed she wasn't truly happy with the news and now this was her fault. She didn't wanted to fight with her best friend, so she picked her next words cautiously.

"If you still want my help, just text me, alright?"

But Paige didn't spare her a look. With a heavy heart, Marie left the restaurant, her eyes watering and her throat burning with the effort of holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you had fun? I would love to hear what you have to say!


End file.
